Fiona Apple cancels tour dates because of dying pet dog

Fiona Apple has cancelled her tour of South America because her pet dog is dying.

The singer-songwriter took to her Facebook page to post a handwritten letter, in which she calls her dog Janet "my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor... she's the one who taught me what love is".

She addressed the letter to "a few thousand friends I have not met yet", saying she wants to postpone her forthcoming live dates, adding that she wants to "change our plans and meet a little while later" with regards to the shows.

Apple said of the dog, who has Addison's Disease: "Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact... I just can't leave her now, please understand. If I go away again, I'm afraid she'll die and I won't have the honour of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out."